March 3, 2016 - VERACRUZ, MEXICO - The Atoyac River, which crosses eight municipalities in the central mountainous area of ​​eastern Mexican state of Veracruz, disappeared overnight after a giant crack opened up.Inhabitants of Rancho San Fermin reported hearing a bang and feeling the earth rumbled as the ground cracked down.

On Monday, the water had disappeared... And they found this giant 30 meters by 20 meters fissure in the ground.
The hole in the ground crosses the riverbed of the Atoyac River.

Before / After. Segments of the River Atoyac are completely dry.

It
appeared about three kilometers from the source of the river, which
supplies with water more than 10,000 families and sugar industries in
the region.

Due to the disappearance of the Atoyac River, the Cotaxtla River is already below its normal level.

WATCH: Major geological upheaval in Veracruz.

Only God and nature know exactly why the river disappeared entirely.
They have exploited the river and it is now charging them back.

Hopefully, we are not facing another tragedy for these thousands of families. - Strange Sounds.

March 3, 2016 - ECUADOR - Ecuadors Tungurahua volcano erupted on Wednesday 2 March, spewing smoke
and ash high into the air in several fiery explosions.

Volcanologists
began registering increased activity at Tungurahua on 27 February and
noted the tremors and eruptions intensified in ensuing days. The
Secretariat of Risk Management issued an orange alert at that point.

The volcano was shrouded in clouds for most of the week, but
volcanologists said the ash column above the volcano at one point
reached some 4,000m high.

Experts said ground vibrations could also be
felt during the eruptions, but they did not have exact measurements for
the height of the ash columns.

The Geophysical Institute believes
ongoing activity and varying degrees of intensity will continue in
coming days.

WATCH: Tungurahua volcanic eruptions continue.

Geophysical Institute volcanologist Marco Almeida said: The activity of the volcano can
be classified as moderate-high at the moment. At the internal level as
well as the surface level there is evidence of columns of ash with a
moderate-high load and sporadic explosions that have triggered primary
pyroclastic flows and others are recurring, secondary, that are related
to the collapse of the material at the summit.

Tungurahua is a towering 5,023m high and lies some 135km south of the
capital city of Quito. Tungurahua, which means Throat of Fire in the
local Quechua language, has been classified as active since 1999.
Ecuador has 84 volcanoes on the mainland in the Andes and Amazon region
and three in the Galapagos Islands. Of the 84, 24 are classified as
erupting, active or potentially active. - IBT.

March 3, 2016 - ASIA - A farmer in China said one of his chickens escaped being slaughtered
when he discovered the bird was born with an extra set of legs and feet.
A bizarre mutant lamb born with two penises and seven legs in Kyrgyzstan, has been
trampled to death by its own flock after other animals refused to accept
it.

Farmer in China discovers chicken with extra set of legs

Li Guanglin, 67, a chicken farmer in Hefei area, said he was preparing
to slaughter the hen last month when he discovered it had four legs and
four feet.

The chicken, born last August, walks on two legs while the others are folded near its bottom.

The farmer said he is keeping the chicken in its own separate living
quarters to prevent it from being bullied by the other chickens.

Li said he has been offered more than $100 for the chicken, but he
decided to keep the unusual animal and have it continue to produce eggs,
which he believes could prove especially valuable. - UPI.

Lamb born with seven legs in Kyrgyzstan

Bizarre: The lamb was born with two penises and seven legs

Farmer Batyrbek Sulaymanov was stunned when he went to help a ewe giving
birth and found that the lamb he pulled out had more than four legs.

However, he found that the newborn was able to walk easily around his farm in the Central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan.

It also appeared to be healthy apart from three extra non-functioning legs.

WATCH: Mutant lamb in Kyrgyzstan.

The man from the village of Kyzyl-Ay then decided to put it back with the rest of the flock after feeding it fresh milk.

But when he went back the next day, he discovered that the lamb had sadly been killed by its own flock.

He said: "I was shocked to find that the other animals had killed it.

"They simply didn't accept it because it was so unusual and therefore trampled it to death." - Mirror.

Enormous sinkhole opens on Detroit's west side

Detroit Police are advising motorists to stay clear of the eastbound
lanes of Tireman on the city's west side because of a giant sinkhole.

The police department retweeted a photo from Fox 2 Detroit (WJBK)
showing several officers standing near the sinkhole at the intersection
with Greenfield. The officers appear to be dwarfed by the size of the
opening in the pavement.

Bryan Peckinpaugh, spokesman for the Detroit Water and Sewerage
Department, said a sewer pipe failed underneath the street, which
apparently caused the sinkhole. Officials do not know what caused the sewer pipe to fail.

"We have a team en route that will place a camera down into the
sewer line to identify the cause of the break in the sewer pipe. After
they make that determination, we will have an estimated repair time,"
Peckinpaugh said in an e-mail. "No businesses and no homes are impacted.
Only the street. We have no reports of sewer backups in that area."

Peckinpaugh was not sure what time the sinkhole opened up, but officials learned of it shortly after 1 p.m.

The weather this year has been relatively mild, but two winters ago when
the term "polar vortex" entered the public consciousness, the
department handled more than 2,000 water main breaks.

In addition to DWSD workers, DTE Energy crews have also been at the
sinkhole because it exposed some gas lines, according to DTE spokesman
Scott Simons. He said no leaks have been detected, but crews are
checking for them every half hour as a precaution. - Detroit Free Press.

Another sinkhole opens along , California's Pacifica coastline

Yet another sinkhole has opened up along Beach Boulevard. A snapshot
shows the depression in the sidewalk of the Beach Boulevard Promenade
that was reported to the city's Department of Public Works on Saturday
afternoon.

It was first thought to be 4 feet by 6 feet, but when crews
opened it up, they found that the erosion underneath was much larger
than that. It was 14 feet by 10 feet, and 8 feet deep, according to Van
Ocampo from the public works department. The sinkhole is located right
in front of the Pacifica Pier. The hole has now been filled in and
patched over. This is the third sinkhole the city has had to deal with.

There were two more at Beach and Paloma that opened up within days of
each other in February. And back in January, there was a breach of the
seawall that had to be repaired.

And there has been other trouble too. Erosion of the cliffs caused the
evacuation of an apartment building further north on Esplanade Avenue.
What is behind it all is the strong waves being produced by this El Nino
season, pounding the shoreline and, in the case of the sinkholes,
eating away the soil underneath the promenade.
Those out enjoying the view on Wednesday said they are not sure what can be done about it. "When mother nature says she wants her land back, she's going to come and get it...," said Tony Martinez, who said he enjoys fishing on the pier.

WATCH: Another sinkhole along the Pacifica coastline.

"I don't know whether it should have been built here originally
or not, but clearly, it's wearing out, and if we want to be able to have
our beautiful beach walk, we have to maintain it," Pacifica resident
Penny Mitchell said.

The city's short-term solution is to find a contractor who can use
either sonar or radar technology to try and find the weakness in the
roadway before they open up. The long-term solution could involve
replacing the entire seawall.

Crews don't have a timeframe for that project, and they don't know where they are going to find the money.

The price tag is estimated to be somewhere around $20 million. - KRON4.

March 3, 2016 - ANGOLA - At least 24 people have been killed and many more are missing after floods struck in city of Lubango, Huíla, in southern Angola.

Angola news agency ANGOP reports that heavy rain fell for around 9 hours
on Monday 29 February 2016. Local media report that two rivers - the
Capitao and the Caculuvar - overflowed.

The worst affected areas were the Tchioco and Canguinda districts of the
city. It is thought that the flood water may have swept through a local
market in Tchioco, where many young people work washing cars. Many of
the victims are aged between 12 and 30, ANGOP report. Local emergency
services said bodies were found up to 500 metres downstream.

The funerals of the victims took place yesterday. During the ceremony,
retired archbishop of Lubango, Dom Zacarias Kamwenho, called for an end
to building houses in risk areas.

Lubango has been the site of several
forced mass evictions to make way for public infrastructure projects.
Families were left with no alternative housing, according to Human Rights Watch.

March 3, 2016 - PAKISTAN - A fair-weather waterspout showed up off Balochistan coast, that is a
rare phenomenon on the country's sea horizons. A waterspout that looked
like a tornado caught on a fisherman's cellular lens some 24 nautical
miles off Balochistan coast during a tuna hunt near Sakoni last weekend,
the WWF-Pakistan said on Wednesday.

"The average spout is around 50 meters in diameter, with wind speeds of
80 kilometres per hour," Technical Advisor (Marine Fisheries),
WWF-Pakistan, Muhammad Moazzam Khan said, adding that a powerful
waterspout could capsize boats, damage ships and endanger human life.

The WWF-Pakistan said that one of its trained fishermen, Mahar Gul,
hailing from Lower Dir, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, reported the rare weather
phenomenon that had been obscure until it was captured on phone camera.
It lauded the fishermen for their keenness to record such rare events on
the seas.

Moazzam Khan said that the fair-weather waterspouts were usually formed
along the cumulus type of clouds. "This type of waterspout is generally
not associated with thunderstorms, which usually dissipates in short
time," he said, adding that such waterspouts lived between five minutes
and 10 minutes normally but most up to an hour.

WATCH: Waterspout filmed near Balochistan.

He said that the formation of a waterspout evolved through five
different stages. In the first, it grows into disk on water surface,
known as a dark spot. In the second, it emerges as a spiral pattern on
the surface, in the third, it forms into a spray ring, in the fourth it
becomes a visible funnel and in the last it decays. "These waterspouts
can be both beautiful as well as dangerous," he warned.

Mahar Gul, who captained a fishing boat 'Hammal' immediately started
recording the waterspout event on his mobile phone but avoided going
close to the vortex.

He observed a large patch of cloud on the morning over a clear sky on a
sunny day, from which the waterspout could be seen descending. According
to Mahar, he had witnessed already such a phenomenon some 20 years ago
near Jiwani, Balochistan.

A waterspout unlike its name is not filled with water but is a column of
cloud-filled wind rotating over the ocean's surface. It descends from a
cumulus cloud and the water inside a waterspout is formed by
condensation in the cloud. There are two types of waterspouts ie
tornadic and fair-weather.

The clouds from which waterspouts descend are not fast-moving, so
fair-weather waterspouts are often static. Both waterspouts require high
levels of humidity and a relatively warm water temperature compared to
the overlying air.

Waterspouts are most common in tropical and subtropical waters
but no authentic record of their occurrence is known from Pakistan
coast, the WWF-Pakistan said.

March 3, 2016 - EARTH - The following constitutes the latest reports of unusual and symbolic animal behavior, mass die-offs, beaching and stranding of mammals, and the appearance of rare creatures.

Three dead dolphins found in two days along Mumbai coast in India

Bodies of three Indo-Pacific humpbacked dolphins have been found at
different locations along Mumbai's coast in the past two days.

A 10-foot-long dolphin was found on Wednesday morning at Bhuigaon beach
at Vasai. Residents from the area spotted the mutilated carcass around
6.30am and informed local municipal authorities and the forest
department.

"The dolphin had several injuries on its head, body and tail," said Mecanzy Dabre, a local.

"The carcass remained on the beach even in the evening since nobody took it away."

On Tuesday, the body of a six-and-a-half-foot dolphin was washed ashore at Gorai beach and was seen by locals around 10am.

While officials from the forest department were clueless about
the incident at Vasai, they sent the carcass found at Gorai for an
autopsy at the Bombay Veterinary College.

Officials from the forest department said the dolphin weighed nearly 100
kg and was found stranded at the fishing area close to the beach.

"We reached the spot on Tuesday around 11.30am and saw no visible external injury on the carcass," Makarand Ghodke, assistant conservator of forest, state mangrove cell, said.

Sources in the forest department said a third dolphin had washed ashore at Girgaum Chowpatty at 5.30pm on Wednesday.

A 40-foot whale had washed ashore at Juhu beach last month and last year
at least three dolphins too were found dead on various beaches in
Mumbai.

4,000 miles from home, rare pelican turns up on Sanibel Island, Florida

A great white pelican extends its wings near smaller American white pelicans on Sanibel

We live on the Nile. The Nile we love.
By night we sleep on the cliffs above;
By day we fish, and at eve we stand
On long bare islands of yellow sand

— From "The Pelican Chorus," by Edward Lear

Sanibel Island's a long way from the Nile, but a great white pelican has appeared at the J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge there — a good 4,000 miles from its home range, and the first time the Old World species has been recorded in North America.

Unlike the more common brown pelicans seen in Southwest Florida, which
max out around 11 pounds and have a 6 1/2-foot wingspan, or even the
larger American white pelican, which winters here, these birds can tip
the scales at 33 pounds, with an almost 12-foot wingspan.

First spotted Sunday, the stray pelican immediately made waves in the
birding community, including among "Ding" Darling staff, who promptly
made it the refuge's Facebook cover photo."

Low-tide birding at 'Ding' is always excellent this time of year, "but
this sighting just adds another level of excitement here at the refuge,"
says supervisory ranger Toni Westland.

Because the bird's facial skin is yellowish, it's likely a female. Males
have pinker skin. It appeared healthy and getting along well with the
other pelicans nearby, said Fort Myers pediatrician and passionate
birder Jose Padilla-Lopez, who quickly hustled out to see and photograph
it.

"Birders are avid 'tickers' — you keep a list of birds you see, and
birds that appear out of their usual range (like this one) are a big
deal," Padilla-Lopez says.

Yet the very bigness of the deal has already created some controversy,
he says. "Birding has rules, so you can't count birds in some
situations. Dead birds, caged birds, birds in zoos or aviaries are not
countable," he says, and there's a debate on social media about whether
this pelican is, in fact, countable. "It could be an escapee from a zoo
or a private owner," though this bird has no identifying tags or bands,
Padilla-Lopez says. "Some are dismissing it off the bat as an escapee,
others — rightly so in my view — want to give it time and consider that
it may be a vagrant (and countable) bird."

"We know national wildlife refuges are critical places for wildlife and
this justifies why we need them - safe places for all species to rest
and feed. Even if this is just a stopover for a visiting rare bird like
the great white pelican, refuges are critical." - News Press.

Dozens of sharks gather close to shore at New Smyrna Beach, Florida

Visitors to a Florida beach said they were surprised to discover the water filled with dozens of baby lemon sharks.

Beach-goers in New Smyrna Beach said they first spotted the shark pups
Monday. The sharks have since been swarming near the shore, surprising
swimmers and surfers.

"They went under me and it like hit my board and I was like 'oh my gosh!'" surfer Ava McGowan, 10, told WKMG-TV.

Photographer Kem McNair estimated there could be up to 40 baby sharks swimming around the beach.

"Them being babies, maybe a year old, they're very curious about
all of their environment. So they come up and check things out and
basically, if you move your little toe or any kind of movement you make
it scares them, and they just dart away I mean like 100 miles an hour,
just incredibly fast," he told WMFE-AM.

Mike Fischer used his camera drone to capture video of dozens of the sharks swimming close to shore.

"They're just curious. They just want to know what we're about. I think
we're more scared of them than they are of us," Fischer said. - UPI.